Science

BIG SPRING RUN IN PENNSYLVANIA—Centuries ago, parts of the eastern United States were drowned in mud. Now, Robert Walter was dancing in it. The geochemist stood calf deep in this small stream 100 kilometers west of Philadelphia, thick curlicues of chocolate sediment flowing around his legs. Walter did a little […]

Starlings, swifts, and small birds called dippers build nests in the most unlikely places: behind the powerful curtains of waterfalls. But how they penetrate the pounding streams to reach their safe havens has long been a mystery. Now, research reveals just how small fliers can traverse these splashy obstacles—and how […]

It’s related to an elephant, has a long nose, a fur tuft on its tail and big, spectacled eyes.

Hermit warblers in California have developed 35 different song dialects, apparently as a result of wildfires temporarily driving them out of certain areas.

Engineers at NuScale Power believe they can revive the moribund U.S. nuclear industry by thinking small. Spun out of Oregon State University in 2007, the company is striving to win approval from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for the design of a new factory-built, modular fission reactor meant to […]

BIG SPRING RUN IN PENNSYLVANIA—Centuries ago, parts of the eastern United States were drowned in mud. Now, Robert Walter was dancing in it. The geochemist stood calf deep in this small stream 100 kilometers west of Philadelphia, thick curlicues of chocolate sediment flowing around his legs. Walter did a little […]

Wearing face masks could affect how we communicate.

An international team of researchers using data from Arecibo Observatory and the Fermi Space Telescope have discovered what they call a “gamma-ray heartbeat” coming from a cosmic gas cloud.

The test will cost about $10, the researchers estimate.